Doctor Examines Dangers Of 'Sexual Freedom'

The Wall Street Journal ran an opinion piece Dec. 14, 2006 highlighting the destruction many college women face because of the double standard surrounding "sexual freedom," especially in university cultures.

The author of the article, Danielle Crittenden, drew from a book called “Unprotected: Campus Psychiatrist Reveals How Political Correctness in Her Profession Endangers Every Student,” written by a doctor who felt pressured to remain anonymous.

“Unfortunately, the young women described in ‘Unprotected’ have fallen victim to one of the few personal troubles that our caring professions refuse to treat or even acknowledge: They have been made miserable by their ‘sexual choices.’ And on that subject, few modern doctors dare express a word of judgment," Crittenden wrote.

Crittenden explains how the same women would be helped immediately by university health departments if they were suffering from eating disorders, substance abuse or nearly any other medical problem. But when their depression, lack of sleep, and other symptoms of psychic distress are caused by sexual promiscuity on college campuses, health professionals too often refuse to intervene.

Doctors will warn students against smoking, excessive drinking, fatty diets and tanning beds, the book author writes, but few will condemn premarital sexual activity.

Consequently, college women are confused, Crittenden said.

“They are following the best advice that modern psychology can offer. They are enjoying their sexual freedom, experimenting, discovering themselves,” she wrote. “They can't understand what might be wrong. And yet something is wrong. As the author observes, surveys have found that ‘sexually active teenage girls were more than three times as likely to be depressed, and nearly three times as likely to have had a suicide attempt, than girls who were not sexually active.’”

Crittenden expressed frustration that health departments will “book an abortion, hand out a condom or prescribe a course of antibiotic treatment” for a woman who has made poor sexual choices, but they will not admonish her about the behavior that led her to visit the office.

“Isn’t promoting health, even saving lives, ‘worth the risk of feeling judged’? Apparently not,” Crittenden writes.